“…give the Papuan people their democratic right to free speech, peaceful assembly and transit to pluralistic society with powers of self-government…”
New Guinea is a mixture of many geographically isolated, disparate cultures that have a history of hostility to one another. Fortunately geographic isolation limits conflict between them.
The kind of culture that would allow them to form a functional nation state, or self-governing state within Indonesia is alien to them. To give them what you want for them (or what the Javanese want for them which is different) is possible, but it would take a lot of effort and a long time, and it would involve destroying their traditional way of life. Do we have to do this kind of thing to every last human being on earth, to every last square metre of its surface?
I so appreciate TF’s thoughtful comments on a man whom I knew as a classmate in graduate school at Berkeley and for all the years until his untimely death. Danny was a different kind of scholar, one who took history seriously, who was cautious about very broad generalizations, one whose own life experiences in SE Asia informed a scholarly approach that may not have jived with today’s more teched-up strategies but which will prove useful over the long run. I did not always agree with Danny. But I very much respected his perspective, his attitude, his warmth, and the breadth of his perspective on many, many issues.
Thaksin is long gone , extrajudicial killings are still here .
THE RELEASE of CCTV footage will not ease public doubts about the recent extrajudicial killing of young Lahu activist Chaiyapoom Pasae, Army chief General Chalermchai Sittisart said yesterday.
“I have already watched the footage. It does not answer several questions. So I think even if it is released, it will only spur criticism,” he said.
Muzaffar, your comments are tendentious. Sufism is regarded as heretical in all Muslim nations, TODAY (except secular Kazakhstan). It does not matter today that Sufi Islam ONCE dominated Islamic practice from India to Indonesia. It does not now, at least not officially. No more legal than Ahmadi or Ismaili Islam which is banned in Iran and Ahmadis persecuted in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia. Muzaffar, you think you represent Hadi Awang ? Then your Islam is hardly Shaf’i. You think you represent Najib ? Then your Islam is a jumble of convenient mixtures of Shaf’i and semi-Arab Islam. Many Malays are defined now probably more by what they don’t do than what they DO. Much of that is practice Islam with common sense and reason (thus many Malays and even Imams not even knowing that handling a dog is allowed in Islam if one washes subsequently, confusing Najis with Haram).
You seem to have a large rattan chip on your shoulder. Chinese are diverse in Malaysia, socially, culturally and linguistically, but what is fairly common to many is that they do not like the current trend in Malaysia inching towards Islamic orthodoxy, they do not like the blatant racist behavior of Ketuanan Melayu types, they do not like being scapegoats for Malay failures, smart ones don’t buy into Mahathir’s sudden epiphany in which Anwar and Chinese are now his buddies (beyond laughable). Malaysia was meant to be a secular nation like post-ottoman Turkey. Tunku meant it and the Reid Commission meant it. Both UMNO and PAS have broken the Malaysian Constitution so many times, it’s not worth keeping score. As a Malay, shouldn’t it be YOUR responsibility to ensure your practice Islam privately and responsibly and that the public sphere in Malaysia is kept free of religion, race and rascals ?
This is blatantly wrong, Sufism is not a mere heretical offshoot of Islam, the debate on ‘Ilm Kalam is well known, al-Ghazali is well respected throught the Sunni and the Shia world. Malaysia and Indonesia itself has a very rich Sufi tradition; the likes of al-Falimbani, as-Sumatrani, al-Fansuri. You talk of Indonesia national concept of ‘unity in diversity’ as wise and prescient, yet you failed to mention the rampant corruption that happened in Indonesia, the abysmal treatment of its Tionghua (Chinese) community, the violence that led to East Timor independence.
Malay Muslim here; Sunni in theology, Shafi’e in jurisprudence and Ash’ari in dialectic and I never heard of this concept of Al-Wala’ Wal-Bara’. A quick Google search led me to believe that this is more prevalent among the Salafi and the Wahhabi ideology. Look man, if you want to bash Islam, at least have the decency of doing your homework and see that the experience of the Middle Eastern Muslim and that of the Southeast Asian model are often not the same.
This is how terrorism is created. When you stifle free speech and refuse to address wrong doings since the creation of Papua as a state of Indonesia we find people who are impacted dissatisfied.
What the President should do is seriously address the problem and give the Papua people their democratic right to free speech, peaceful assembly and transit to a pluralistic society with powers to self government as in Acheh. Why allow for history to repeat itself.
The UN is another dysfunctional organization and we cannot depend on it.
Thanks to TF for this beautiful and fitting tribute. You have captured well the generous friend and original, insightful scholar. HIs nearly sudden and thoroughly untimely death is a huge loss not only to his family and friends but also to Thai studies and to the broader study of Southeast Asia.
Larry Diamond
“Building Social Capital in Thailand” is really a classic for the second part of the title: “Fibers, Finance, and Infrastructure.”
Unger wove the day to day news of newspapers like the Bangkok Post and Nation, that flies past us in a meaningless blur everyday, into meaningful plain language historical narratives accessible to everyone, narratives that exposed the underlying mechanisms and problems of Thailand’s political economy and development.
Hopefully, someone will one day continue in his footsteps with this invaluable work that he started.
The price Jumpol Manmai has paid – perhaps for ” gossiping” with Thaksin – is well reported in current edition of The Economist. As are the particularly heightened tensions mounting this year, towards Thailand’s always tough annual September military reshuffle.
I would have described Amos Yee’s “interventions” as more a kind of adolescent enthusiasm for profanity and disrespect for authority than “politics” of any kind, not in the least because it’s hard to characterize anything that happens in Singapore as “politics”.
What surprises me about your post is your contrasting “argument about policy… as long as it remains evidence-based” with “attacking individuals or groups” and then labeling the latter as “hate”.
Article after article on NM has been published that reverberate with ungrounded speculation and vicious attacks on individuals and when anyone asks for “evidence” they get called names and someone usually goes on to imply they are sex tourists with problems with women.
From some viewpoints it looks like nothing more than hate layered on hate and nary a shred of evidence in sight.
Or do you oppose “ad hominem” only when you don’t share the loathing it issues forth from?
I am not in favour of punitive control, because it has the kind of bad side effects of the kind that the Singapore government is experiencing at the moment. But I am also against the kind of ad-hominem politics that Amos Yee indulged in. Vigorous argument about policy if fine, as long as it remains evidence-based, but attacking individuals or groups is the same thing as hate. The US is rotten with it, and Australia is not far behind. The best way to discourage hate is to point out its destructive effect on a culture. Combat hate by evidence-based argument, not by punishment which only perpetuates it.
Singaporean blogger Amos Yee granted asylum by US judge
25th March 2017
A UNITED STATES immigration judge in Chicago on Friday granted asylum to a Singaporean blogger Amos Yee saying he was persecuted for his political opinions in the Southeast Asian city-state.
Amos Yee, 18, who had been jailed twice in Singapore, qualifies as a political refugee, according to a 13-page opinion by the judge.
Falang is a Muslim apologist for Dakwah. The same report is recycled over and over again. Where are the women who were raped ? Any forensic DNA evidence of rape ? Where are the mass pits with dead bodies ? There is no genocide, not one piece of evidence has been brought forth except fake news, and this is another in a long line of Taqiyya reporting.
Burma on Saturday rejected the UN rights council’s decision to investigate allegations that security officers have murdered, raped and tortured Rohingya Muslims, saying the probe would only “inflame” the conflict.
Burma’s foreign affairs ministry on Saturday stopped short of saying it would block the UN-backed probe but said it “has dissociated itself from the resolution as a whole.”
“The establishment of an international fact-finding mission would do more to inflame, rather than resolve the issues at this time,” it added.
Burma is carrying out its own domestic inquiry into possible crimes in Arakan.
But rights groups and the UN have dismissed the body, which is led by retired general turned Vice President Myint Swe, as toothless.
Are you flipping through Thai children picture books?
Obviously you understand zero about Thailand’s real rulership, royal powers and Mafia.
Otherwise you’d prefer the Thai Royals being eradicated!
You’ll see what the world holds for ignorant, naive people, Very soon enough, to start crying, wining and complaining.
That doesn’t help.
Turning on your brain, standing up for humanity, to survive, action, that’s the only answer.
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Blocking Papua from the Truth
“…give the Papuan people their democratic right to free speech, peaceful assembly and transit to pluralistic society with powers of self-government…”
New Guinea is a mixture of many geographically isolated, disparate cultures that have a history of hostility to one another. Fortunately geographic isolation limits conflict between them.
The kind of culture that would allow them to form a functional nation state, or self-governing state within Indonesia is alien to them. To give them what you want for them (or what the Javanese want for them which is different) is possible, but it would take a lot of effort and a long time, and it would involve destroying their traditional way of life. Do we have to do this kind of thing to every last human being on earth, to every last square metre of its surface?
Tribute to Daniel H. Unger
I so appreciate TF’s thoughtful comments on a man whom I knew as a classmate in graduate school at Berkeley and for all the years until his untimely death. Danny was a different kind of scholar, one who took history seriously, who was cautious about very broad generalizations, one whose own life experiences in SE Asia informed a scholarly approach that may not have jived with today’s more teched-up strategies but which will prove useful over the long run. I did not always agree with Danny. But I very much respected his perspective, his attitude, his warmth, and the breadth of his perspective on many, many issues.
Governing by the gun
Chaiyapoom Pasae
Thaksin is long gone , extrajudicial killings are still here .
THE RELEASE of CCTV footage will not ease public doubts about the recent extrajudicial killing of young Lahu activist Chaiyapoom Pasae, Army chief General Chalermchai Sittisart said yesterday.
“I have already watched the footage. It does not answer several questions. So I think even if it is released, it will only spur criticism,” he said.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30310600
Good bye Giggacher!
Thank you, James! You’ve been great to work with as editor of NM!
‘Deep’ Malay cultural psychology
Muzaffar, your comments are tendentious. Sufism is regarded as heretical in all Muslim nations, TODAY (except secular Kazakhstan). It does not matter today that Sufi Islam ONCE dominated Islamic practice from India to Indonesia. It does not now, at least not officially. No more legal than Ahmadi or Ismaili Islam which is banned in Iran and Ahmadis persecuted in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia. Muzaffar, you think you represent Hadi Awang ? Then your Islam is hardly Shaf’i. You think you represent Najib ? Then your Islam is a jumble of convenient mixtures of Shaf’i and semi-Arab Islam. Many Malays are defined now probably more by what they don’t do than what they DO. Much of that is practice Islam with common sense and reason (thus many Malays and even Imams not even knowing that handling a dog is allowed in Islam if one washes subsequently, confusing Najis with Haram).
You seem to have a large rattan chip on your shoulder. Chinese are diverse in Malaysia, socially, culturally and linguistically, but what is fairly common to many is that they do not like the current trend in Malaysia inching towards Islamic orthodoxy, they do not like the blatant racist behavior of Ketuanan Melayu types, they do not like being scapegoats for Malay failures, smart ones don’t buy into Mahathir’s sudden epiphany in which Anwar and Chinese are now his buddies (beyond laughable). Malaysia was meant to be a secular nation like post-ottoman Turkey. Tunku meant it and the Reid Commission meant it. Both UMNO and PAS have broken the Malaysian Constitution so many times, it’s not worth keeping score. As a Malay, shouldn’t it be YOUR responsibility to ensure your practice Islam privately and responsibly and that the public sphere in Malaysia is kept free of religion, race and rascals ?
‘Deep’ Malay cultural psychology
This is blatantly wrong, Sufism is not a mere heretical offshoot of Islam, the debate on ‘Ilm Kalam is well known, al-Ghazali is well respected throught the Sunni and the Shia world. Malaysia and Indonesia itself has a very rich Sufi tradition; the likes of al-Falimbani, as-Sumatrani, al-Fansuri. You talk of Indonesia national concept of ‘unity in diversity’ as wise and prescient, yet you failed to mention the rampant corruption that happened in Indonesia, the abysmal treatment of its Tionghua (Chinese) community, the violence that led to East Timor independence.
‘Deep’ Malay cultural psychology
Malay Muslim here; Sunni in theology, Shafi’e in jurisprudence and Ash’ari in dialectic and I never heard of this concept of Al-Wala’ Wal-Bara’. A quick Google search led me to believe that this is more prevalent among the Salafi and the Wahhabi ideology. Look man, if you want to bash Islam, at least have the decency of doing your homework and see that the experience of the Middle Eastern Muslim and that of the Southeast Asian model are often not the same.
Blocking Papua from the Truth
This is how terrorism is created. When you stifle free speech and refuse to address wrong doings since the creation of Papua as a state of Indonesia we find people who are impacted dissatisfied.
What the President should do is seriously address the problem and give the Papua people their democratic right to free speech, peaceful assembly and transit to a pluralistic society with powers to self government as in Acheh. Why allow for history to repeat itself.
The UN is another dysfunctional organization and we cannot depend on it.
Tribute to Daniel H. Unger
Thanks to TF for this beautiful and fitting tribute. You have captured well the generous friend and original, insightful scholar. HIs nearly sudden and thoroughly untimely death is a huge loss not only to his family and friends but also to Thai studies and to the broader study of Southeast Asia.
Larry Diamond
Tribute to Daniel H. Unger
Wonderful tribute to a wonderful scholar.
“Building Social Capital in Thailand” is really a classic for the second part of the title: “Fibers, Finance, and Infrastructure.”
Unger wove the day to day news of newspapers like the Bangkok Post and Nation, that flies past us in a meaningless blur everyday, into meaningful plain language historical narratives accessible to everyone, narratives that exposed the underlying mechanisms and problems of Thailand’s political economy and development.
Hopefully, someone will one day continue in his footsteps with this invaluable work that he started.
Risk, gossip and retribution in Thailand
The price Jumpol Manmai has paid – perhaps for ” gossiping” with Thaksin – is well reported in current edition of The Economist. As are the particularly heightened tensions mounting this year, towards Thailand’s always tough annual September military reshuffle.
Tough year for human rights in Southeast Asia
Combat hate by evidence-based argument, not by punishment which only perpetuates it.
Now there are words of wisdom .
Kudos R N E
Tough year for human rights in Southeast Asia
Interesting comment indeed, RN England.
I would have described Amos Yee’s “interventions” as more a kind of adolescent enthusiasm for profanity and disrespect for authority than “politics” of any kind, not in the least because it’s hard to characterize anything that happens in Singapore as “politics”.
What surprises me about your post is your contrasting “argument about policy… as long as it remains evidence-based” with “attacking individuals or groups” and then labeling the latter as “hate”.
Article after article on NM has been published that reverberate with ungrounded speculation and vicious attacks on individuals and when anyone asks for “evidence” they get called names and someone usually goes on to imply they are sex tourists with problems with women.
From some viewpoints it looks like nothing more than hate layered on hate and nary a shred of evidence in sight.
Or do you oppose “ad hominem” only when you don’t share the loathing it issues forth from?
Tough year for human rights in Southeast Asia
I am not in favour of punitive control, because it has the kind of bad side effects of the kind that the Singapore government is experiencing at the moment. But I am also against the kind of ad-hominem politics that Amos Yee indulged in. Vigorous argument about policy if fine, as long as it remains evidence-based, but attacking individuals or groups is the same thing as hate. The US is rotten with it, and Australia is not far behind. The best way to discourage hate is to point out its destructive effect on a culture. Combat hate by evidence-based argument, not by punishment which only perpetuates it.
Tough year for human rights in Southeast Asia
Singaporean blogger Amos Yee granted asylum by US judge
25th March 2017
A UNITED STATES immigration judge in Chicago on Friday granted asylum to a Singaporean blogger Amos Yee saying he was persecuted for his political opinions in the Southeast Asian city-state.
Amos Yee, 18, who had been jailed twice in Singapore, qualifies as a political refugee, according to a 13-page opinion by the judge.
https://asiancorrespondent.com/2017/03/singaporean-blogger-amos-yee-granted-asylum-us-judge/
Myanmar’s Rohingya need tomorrow’s fairer world today
Falang is a Muslim apologist for Dakwah. The same report is recycled over and over again. Where are the women who were raped ? Any forensic DNA evidence of rape ? Where are the mass pits with dead bodies ? There is no genocide, not one piece of evidence has been brought forth except fake news, and this is another in a long line of Taqiyya reporting.
Myanmar’s Rohingya need tomorrow’s fairer world today
Burma rebuffs UN probe of crimes against Rohingya
Burma on Saturday rejected the UN rights council’s decision to investigate allegations that security officers have murdered, raped and tortured Rohingya Muslims, saying the probe would only “inflame” the conflict.
Burma’s foreign affairs ministry on Saturday stopped short of saying it would block the UN-backed probe but said it “has dissociated itself from the resolution as a whole.”
“The establishment of an international fact-finding mission would do more to inflame, rather than resolve the issues at this time,” it added.
Burma is carrying out its own domestic inquiry into possible crimes in Arakan.
But rights groups and the UN have dismissed the body, which is led by retired general turned Vice President Myint Swe, as toothless.
http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-rebuffs-un-probe-crimes-rohingya/74796
Good bye Giggacher!
Thanks for the great website! I wish you and NM a continued success.
Royal power arrangement
More in Thailand than anywhere else, better believe it.
Just add 1+1+1
North Korea no.1
Thailand no.2
Royal power arrangement
Are you flipping through Thai children picture books?
Obviously you understand zero about Thailand’s real rulership, royal powers and Mafia.
Otherwise you’d prefer the Thai Royals being eradicated!
You’ll see what the world holds for ignorant, naive people, Very soon enough, to start crying, wining and complaining.
That doesn’t help.
Turning on your brain, standing up for humanity, to survive, action, that’s the only answer.